Like many other aspects of this recession, the spring real estate market is creating some surprises for the industry. On the one hand, buyers are starting to move off the sidelines, enticed by low mortgage rates and rising home affordability. This nice surprise offers real estate agents an opportunity to move some inventory and create cash flow after a seriously difficult winter market. And while the recent increase in activity is welcome weather, some not-so-nice surprises are springing up with the season.
A while ago I wrote a short article comparing some of the “standard” real estate marketing tools with those of other industries. I remember commenting how REALTORS, who sell commodities in the hundreds of thousands of dollars range, try to entice buyers with printouts made from an off-the-shelf inkjet printer on recycled paper, while automobile companies readily offer super-glossy-multi-page professional brochures to promote their lowliest of models. Of course, times change: When Baby Boomers invented the real estate industry, printing anything was a mimeographic achievement, so the small office printer was a revolutionary upgrade in marketing in the 1990s. Yet today’s buyers and sellers increasingly come from the Gen X and Gen Y demographics. Does anyone still think we’re going to re-start the housing market by handing out listing sheets? Let’s review some basic facts: Last year the average first time buyer was 31 years old, smack-in-the-middle of the Gen X/Y profile. This means many buyers were in their early twenties, while some lagged into old-age-thirties. Even the average seller was only 45 – the tail end of the Boomers, even if they try to pass themselves off as early X’ers. Either way we’re talking consumers who entertain on YouTube, [...]
Recently I participated on a panel where the audience could ask literally anything. After a few softball questions to get started, the pink elephant entered the room: What do you think the real estate brokerage company of the future will look like? The room was suddenly still. Everyone leaned forward in their seats. All eyes were on the panelists. And after three other great answers – about companies focused on leadership, treating customers like guests, and practicing the fine art of salesmanship – the microphone came to me. What would be my answer? What will the real estate brokerage of the future look like. No talk about virtual offices and wireless tools. Forget social networking online. Those aren’t models – but tools. Think evolution. So I gave the answer nobody wanted to hear: We already have the future brokerage model, in most companies, today. We just have to be willing to look. The real estate brokerage model of the future will be a team. At Matthew Ferrara & Company, we believe the real estate industry is passing through its industrial revolution. A slow, steady, and painful transformation is occurring, moving the industry from a semi-feudal organizational model into a renaissance [...]
